Ink and Fire
by Smile Life Away
Summary: Written for the Romance Den Challenge "A smile is a wonderful and warming thing." For itsallcalypso and Xakemii


**A/N: For Xakemii (Kimberley), Happy Birthday! & For itsallcalypso, Happy Birthday!**

**Also written for the Romance Den Challenge, by PenonPaperFingersonKeys**

**Thanks to SoUsay234 for betaing this for me :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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_A smile is a wonderful and warming thing._

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At this particular moment, Lily Evans would have given anything for a pen. Not a quill, a pen, because pens did not require dipping into a well of ink.

"And so, I was like: _Merlin!_ And then he was like -"

"Mary. Not to be rude, but I _really _need to finish this," Lily interrupted and although the girl fell silent she continued to bounce up and down on Lily's bed until finally, the seventeen year old stood up and began to gather her things.

"Where are you going?" Mary called after her.

"To the Common Room, I need to finish this."

"You won't get anything done down there."

"Why not?"

"Black, Potter, Lupin, and Pettigrew are down there." Mary flipped her blonde curls to the side and tilted her head slightly. "You know what I love about Carl…"

Lily opened the door and started out, anything was better than being in a room alone with Mary Macdonald while she talked about her boyfriend. If only Alice was here, but no, she'd opted to go home for the Holidays.

Mary was right of course, the four were lounging in the Common Room and chatting about something that was apparently important, that much Lily took from the silence that enveloped the place as soon as she appeared. Sirius paused in the middle of his speech; Remus sent her a wave, which only resulted in a glare from the former; Pettigrew looked terrified, and James… well, James just stared at her. Clearly, her presence was unwelcome.

"I'm just going to go back upstairs then," she announced and instantly the four leapt into action.

"No, Lily, you can stay we were just talking about…about…about…Christmas," James finished and she wondered briefly if he actually thought she believed his lie. "Mo-Remus wants a..umm..an…ehm…" He waved his hands around searching for words.

"A pony," Sirius finished and Remus sent him a disapproving glare.

"All right. I'm going." She started back towards the Girl's Dorm room only to trip and send the inkwell flying, the remainder of the black ink found its way on top of her head.

Pettigrew laughed, James punched him, Remus looked concerned, Sirius slightly entertained (though not enough to actually laugh), and Lily Evans cried. Lily never cried, at least not in front of Potter and his friends. Quickly, she wiped away the foolish tears and pulled out her wand muttering a quick spell to remove the ink. Even so she had none left to write with.

It had been a simple plan. Pull out a piece of parchment and a quill and write Petunia a letter explaining why she hadn't come home for Christmas, but nothing was ever that simple - of course not. Mary had to distract her with news on the latest happenings between her and her Ravenclaw boyfriend, and then she had to go and spill all of her ink in front of James Potter and his friends.

"Lily, are you all right?" James asked but he glanced at Remus before he did so, to make sure it was the proper thing to say apparently.

"I'm fine. Do any of you have a pen?" She asked attempting to maintain some of her fading dignity.

"What's a pen?" She got as an answer from James and Sirius at the same time and then Sirius turned to Lupin. "What's a pen?"

"Dunno." Remus turned to Peter then, "What's a pen?"

"I dunno."

"A _pen_! It's what Muggles use to write." Lily explained which only resulted in blank stares from the four boys. "Never mind."

"Do you want another quill?" Remus asked, "I have some more ink."

"No!" She snapped back, "I mean, no thank you, I'm just going to go…outside," she muttered and started out of the portrait hole knowing there were footsteps behind her and guessing they belonged to James Potter.

She was right.

"I'm sorry I snapped at Remus," she said before he could speak, and she was. It wasn't his fault she was in a bad mood; after all he'd just been trying to help. He'd failed, but he had tried.

No, it was Lily's fault and Petunia's too, but mostly Lily's. It had been her idea to stay the Holiday, she hadn't expected Petunia to be upset with her - she hadn't even expected her to care. But she had, she'd sent Lily a scathing letter –in pen - which left the seventeen-year-old witch distraught. So she'd decided to write her back and Lily was certain that every second she delayed the angrier her older sister would become.

"What's wrong, Lily?" He asked following her down the stairs.

"Nothing."

"Something's wrong," he asserted. "You _never_ cry."

"That's not exactly true," she disagreed, though he was right; James Potter had never seen her cry.

The path to civility between Lily and James had come sometime during the beginning of seventh year she supposed, because he was Head Boy and she was Head Girl and so they had no choice but to get along. What they had now was something that was almost friendship – she supposed – or maybe they'd reached that level, she'd never actually questioned him on their _relationship_. After all, who knew how he would take that word.

"Well, you're upset about something."

"I spilled an ink well on my head," she stated plainly. "That's not exactly something I should smile about, is it?"

"Why not?" He said it with a shrug following her into the grass outside of the castle. "You made Peter enjoy himself, Sirius too."

"So, I should be happy that your friends were laughing at me?" she questioned raising an eyebrow.

"No, you should be happy that you entertained two boys that had previously been in a very sour mood. Now if only you could get Remus to smile."

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Potter," she snapped. His surname fell from her tongue too easily and she could tell he looked slightly put off by the sound of it.

"I'm sorry, Lily." He looked sincere, "What if I find you a pen?"

"You'd have to know it what it looks like first." But her mouth twitched slightly.

"Just smile, Lily. I know you want to."

"I don't." She argued and set her mouth in a frown, but James just smirked – his classic, arrogant, kissab- extremely annoying smirk.

"Sure you don't, Lily." He pulled a quill from his robes. "Here, you don't need an inkwell for it; Remus charmed it to never run out of ink. It was a birthday present." He handed it to her and she took it.

"Thanks."

"Hey, Lily."

"What?"

"You're smiling."

And she was, it had broken out on her face without her knowledge and now she couldn't suppress it.

"I'm just going to go write Petunia this letter now."

"And the source of her anger is revealed."

_Was it common knowledge that she had a rocky relationship with her sister?_ Lily glared at James, though the smile didn't leave her face.

"Goodbye."

"Wait!" He called, and grabbing her forearm pulled her back. "You owe me a kiss."

"And what makes you think that?"

He pointed up to where mistletoe was hanging from one of the arches of the castle. It had definitely not been there ten seconds ago, she would've noticed it.

"Don't you want to honor tradition?"

"_Incendio." _She pointed to the plant above them. "What mistletoe?"

"That's cruel."

"You shouldn't plant mistletoe." Her smile grew even wider, "I really need to write this letter." She walked away leaving him beneath his now scorched mistletoe.

_I'd let you burn a hundred mistletoes and break my heart a thousand times to see you smile. A smile is a wonderful and warming thing._

James Potter – knowing he'd get his quill back the moment she sent off her letter – headed back towards the Gryffindor Common Room, his three friends would surely be waiting. They did have some major issues to discuss after all…

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**A/N: Please Review**


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